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The Temple

At what time of year did the courses begin to count, or when did the first course start? Seemingly it was immediately after, or on the final (eighth) or “great day of the feast” of tabernacles (”festival of booths,” NW), which celebration closed the festive year. Jehovah commanded: “At the end of every seven years, in the appointed time of the year of the release, in the festival of booths, . . . you will read this law.” (Deut. 31:10, 11, NW) Incidentally, the festival of booths is the last of the three great feasts to find fulfillment in antitype; and “this feast closed the original festive calendar; . . . What the seventh day, or Sabbath, was in reference to the week, the seventh month seems to have been in reference to the year. It closed not only the sacred cycle, but also the agricultural or working year. It also marked the change of seasons, the approach of rain and of the winter equinox [properly, winter solstice, or autumnal equinox], and determined alike the commencement and the close of a sabbatical year.” (Edersheim, The Temple, pp. 234, 235; also see pp. 179, 265.)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. June 15, 1954 p. 383

However, back there on the day of Pentecost, 33 C.E., it became true of the imperfect members of the Christian congregation that “the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”—1 John 1:7; see page 229, paragraph 1, through page 231 of the book The Temple, by Alfred Edersheim, edition of 1881

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1975 p. 602

The Bible verses surrounding John 6:54 show that Jesus was speaking those words, not just to mere Jews as such, but also to many of his Israelite disciples, including his 12 apostles. Their Passover of the year 32 C.E., “the festival of the Jews,” was near. (John 6:4) In preparation for that feast, the Jews would slaughter the Passover lamb at the temple in Jerusalem and the priests would catch the blood in bowls and dash it toward the base of the altar. (See M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia, Volume 7, under “Passover,” p. 738, column 1, paragraph 4, lines 1-34; also, The Temple—Its Ministry and Services As They Were at the Time of Jesus Christ, by Alfred Edersheim, 1874 C.E., pp. 190, 191.)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 1, 1978 p. 24

Alfred Edersheim, in The Temple (1874, p. 138), presents the traditional Jewish account of this “hour”: “Slowly the incensing priest and his assistants ascended the steps to the Holy Place . . . Next, one of the assistants reverently spread the coals on the golden altar; the other arranged the incense; and then the chief officiating priest was left alone within the Holy Place, to await the signal of the president before burning the incense. . . . As the president gave the word of command, which marked that ‘the time of incense had come,’ ‘the whole multitude of the people without’ withdrew from the inner court, and fell down before the Lord, spreading their hands in silent prayer. It is this most solemn period, when throughout the vast Temple buildings deep silence rested on the worshipping multitude, while within the sanctuary itself the priest laid the incense on the golden altar, and the cloud of ‘odours’ rose up before the Lord.”

Insight On the Scriptures-Volume I. 1988. p. 1153-1154

Alfred Edersheim comments: “Before the morning sacrifice all burnt- and peace-offerings which the people proposed to bring at the feast had to be examined by the officiating priesthood. Great as their number was, it must have been a busy time, till the announcement that the morning glow extended to Hebron put an end to all such preparations, by giving the signal for the regular morning sacrifice.”—The Temple, 1874, p. 228.

Insight On the Scriptures-Volume II. 1988. p. 598-599

Priestly duties were not curtailed on the Sabbath (Mt 12:5), and infants were even circumcised on the Sabbath if that happened to be their eighth day of life. In later times the Jews had a saying, “There is no sabbath in the sanctuary,” meaning that the priestly duties went right on.—Joh 7:22; Le 12:2, 3; The Temple, by A. Edersheim, 1874, p. 152.

Insight On the Scriptures-Volume II. 1988. p. 831

The Temple Alfred Edersheim

The Worship of the Dead

Concerning this, J. Garnier writes: “Not merely Egyptians, Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans, but also the Hindus, the Buddhists of China and of Thibet, the Goths, Anglo-Saxons, Druids, Mexicans and Peruvians, the Aborigines of Australia, and even the savages of the South Sea Islands, must have all derived their religious ideas from a common source and a common centre. Everywhere we find the most startling coincidences in rites, ceremonies, customs, traditions, and in the names and relations of their respective gods and goddesses.”—The Worship of the Dead, London, 1904, p. 3

Insight On the Scriptures-Volume I. 1988. p. 973

“The cross in the form of the ‘Crux Ansata’ . . . was carried in the hands of the Egyptian priests and Pontiff kings as the symbol of their authority as priests of the Sun god and was called ‘the Sign of Life.’”—The Worship of the Dead (London, 1904), Colonel J. Garnier, p. 226.

Reasoning From the Scriptures. 1985, 1989 ed. p. 91

The book The Worship of the Dead points to this origin: “The mythologies of all the ancient nations are interwoven with the events of the Deluge . . . The force of this argument is illustrated by the fact of the observance of a great festival of the dead in commemoration of the event, not only by nations more or less in communication with each other, but by others widely separated, both by the ocean and by centuries of time. This festival is, moreover, held by all on or about the very day on which, according to the Mosaic account, the Deluge took place, viz., the seventeenth day of the second month—the month nearly corresponding with our November.” (London, 1904, Colonel J. Garnier, p. 4)

Reasoning From the Scriptures. 1985, 1989 ed. p. 181

The Worship of the Dead

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A Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament

Agreement with this is found in A Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament, by John Parkhurst, in a new edition (1845) by J. R. Major, page 673, which says: “III. To choose by vote or suffrage, however expressed. Occurs 2 Corinthians 8:19. IV. With an accusative following, to appoint or constitute to an office, though without suffrages or votes. Occurs Acts 14:23.”

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 15, 1959 p. 443

Parkhurst’s Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament 1829 Edition

In Jesus’ words here, the word “judgment” translates the Greek word kri′sis. According to Parkhurst, the meanings of this word in the Christian Greek Scriptures are as follows: “I. Judgment. . . . II. Judgment, justice. Mat. xxiii. 23. Comp. xii. 20. . . . III. Judgment of condemnation, condemnation, damnation. Mark iii. 29. John v. 24, 29. . . . IV. The cause or ground of condemnation or punishment. John iii. 19. V. A particular court of justice among the Jews, . . . Mat. v. 21, 22.”—A Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament, London, 1845, p. 342

Insight On the Scriptures-Volume II. 1988. p. 788-789

The literal meaning of the word used in the Greek Bible text (khei·ro·to·ne′o) is “to extend, stretch out, or lift up the hand,” and, by extension, it could also mean “to elect or choose to an office by lifting up of hands.”—A Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament, by John Parkhurst, 1845, p. 673

Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom. 1993. p. 208

A Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament